Another view: Share the sacrifice

August 19, 2011

In Lansing, lawmakers have cut funding to schools, raised taxes on retirees and sought $265 million in concessions from state workers.

Not surprisingly, many have wondered if lawmakers are sharing in the pain. When it comes to pay, the answer is yes. When it comes to benefits, the answer is no. When it comes to legislative budgets, the answer is yes, but more could be done.

When it comes to legislative pay, the issue is generally more symbolic than practical. If all Michigan lawmakers worked for free, it would have little impact on the state’s budget. Still, it’s wrong to tighten the spending belt for others if you keep buying new (taxpayer-funded) trousers for yourself.

Lawmakers, in fact, are making less money. They are now making $71,685 a year, which is 10 percent less than the $79,650 they made annually for most of the last decade.

Their last big raise was back in 2001, when their $56,987 salary leaped to $77,400. That’s a 35 percent hike. They got another 3 percent hike the next year before holding steady for eight years prior to this year’s reduction.

Lawmaker salaries, among the highest in the nation, are now about 30 percent higher than they were 12 years ago, an average annual increase of about 2.5 percent.

On the benefits side, lawmakers no longer receive pensions but instead participate in 401(k)s. This fall, House lawmakers and staff will start paying 20 percent of the cost of their health insurance premiums, according to a recent Detroit Free Press story. The Senate makes a similar move in January.

On the downside, House members are still eligible for state-paid health insurance at age 55 after serving a minimum of six years. State House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said that will end this year, but we are skeptical. Spokespeople for both parties have made that promise before but somehow the legislation never gets passed. It should.

Bolger said the House is taking part in expense reduction. He said office budgets for all representatives will see a 13.9 percent cut .

One area where both the House and Senate could make immediate savings is to eliminate the partisan communication offices run for the benefit of Republicans and Democrats in each chamber.

These are not communication offices; they are party propaganda machines. As such, they should be funded by individual legislators or the political parties, but not by taxpayers. Getting rid of those taxpayer-funded positions would show a commitment to shared sacrifice.